Some #EndSARS promoters whose bank accounts were frozen by the apex bank have dragged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to court over the freezing of their bank accounts.
Reports say that fourteen out of the twenty campaigners filed a motion through their team of lawyers led by human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, asking the court to set aside an Ex Parte directing the freezing of their accounts.
They disclosed that they were denied a fair hearing by the court before their bank accounts were frozen by the CBN.
They said that the freezing order the court issued was based on misrepresentation of material facts and based on suppression of material facts by the CBN.
The applicants also accused the CBN of lying to the court when it painted them as suspected terrorists and engaging in gross abuse of the judicial process.
They told the court that the CBN had, since October, ordered banks to freeze all the accounts belonging to them, even before it approached the court for the ex-parte order. The campaigners subsequently asked the court to lift the Exparte order and asked the CBN to unfreeze their bank accounts; noting that they would suffer economic hardship unless the court vacated the order it made against them.
Many notable Nigerians have condemned the freezing of accounts of #EndSARS promoters by the CBN following the last month’s protests by Nigerians, especially youths, demanding an end to police brutality and bad governance in general.
Youths who are seen as promoters are currently experiencing persecution from the government and its agents and cronies.
Many have been arrested and detained while some have been prevented from traveling outside the state. One of the influential youths that participated in the protest, DJ Switch who fled the country to escape arrest and assassination, has testified before the Canadian parliament narrating what transpired during the shooting of protesters by Nigeria Military at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK